Black Swan, Psycho, American Psycho, Good Will Hunting, Taxi Driver, and scores of movies depict how obsessed Hollywood is with mental illness. On the one hand, it’s a good thing since mental illness is now a topic being discussed in the mainstream, no longer stigmatized or hushed up. But on the other hand, there’s a lot that’s wrong here as well.

And it’s important to talk about the misrepresentation of mental illness in movies. The reason is simple: it gives people the wrong idea. A person watching BBC’s Sherlock will think autism looks like Benedict Cumberbatch on steroids—but it doesn’t necessarily look like that. Neither do a lot of other things.

Myth One: Mental Illness is Violent and Dangerous

Not all mental illnesses are the same—and you must bear in mind that there are more than 200 mental illnesses out there. Many, if not most movies, depict people with mental illness as unstable, unpredictable, and untrustworthy. Whether it’s Randall Murphy from Once Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, De Niro’s character in Taxi Driver, or Joker from Batman—wherever it is implied that an individual suffers from some kind of mental illness and turns out to be violent, it’s setting a dangerous precedent.  

It’s giving people the notion that everyone with a mental illness of any kind is liable to outbursts of anger and violence. While some mental illnesses might lead in that direction, most are harmless to the people around.

They’re All Evil

Dexter, Hannibal Lecter, Peter Lorre’s character in M—what do they all have in common? They’re serial killers. And what do the movies/TV adaptations about them make us want to do? They intend to make the audience sympathize with them while using their mental illness as a justification for their crimes. They kill—the studios seem to be saying—because they’re crazy.

That is a terrible justification and makes people think that (a) everyone who commits violent crimes is mentally ill and (b) we ought to pity them, not question their calculated moves and motives.

Mental Illness is a Superpower

Sherlock is a charged, electric, super-computer-like, and uber-intelligent being that no human could possibly be. The Joker is this other-worldly mastermind who can beat Batman and bring woe to Gotham any time he pleases. Hannibal Lecter is so smart he can help the FBI with criminal psychology profiles and feed them human meat of the missing people they’re looking for.

Suffice it to say, real life does not work like that. Don’t harbor any ideas of superhuman capabilities. This is also a major misstep because pretending people with mental illness have superpowers is tantamount to glorifying and romanticizing it. In truth, mental illness is extremely difficult to cope with. There’s nothing romantic here.

Get Help

If you suffer from a mental illness, anxiety, or any kinds of phobia and fears, don’t give in just yet. There’s help available at Blossom Hypnosis. You can book a Skype or FaceTime session with Rekha today—all you have to do is get in touch with her. Feel free to talk about your fear of expressing emotions, ADHD, or more. If you are in Rochester, NY, and would like to see Rekha for an in-person session, you can visit her directly. She has been offering in-person sessions all along during the pandemic—under strict social distancing guidelines, of course.